Walter J. Blenko, Jr.

Caretaker of the Classic Car Club of America's Museum

Walter J. Blenko, Jr. from Hemmings Classic Car

Walter Blenko, president of the Classic Car Club of America's Museum, was not very interested in cars growing up. Certainly, he was mechanically inclined, as many of us were, but it wasn't until his college years that he started to become a car guy. And then, it wasn't the CCCA's signature Full Classics that grabbed him, but a hot rod Ford. A friend had planed the cylinder heads on the old flathead and put a two-speed rear end into the 1946 Ford--nothing fancy, but it was enough to get Walter hooked.

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Walter drove it in his early college years, "But the weatherstrip wasn't the best. It was cold and damp," he recalled. So he bought an underseat heater from Sears, the kind that recirculates inside air, took the front seat out and installed it.
"I plumbed and wired it in," he said. "That was kind of the start--little by little, I got more addicted."
From there, it was a short step to...Rolls-Royces? "I'm attracted to exotic cars," said Walter, who eventually bought a 1960 Rolls. "The next fall from grace I had was a 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III," and that in turn brought him to the CCCA.
If you were thinking that the CCCA only had American cars, you're not alone: That's a common misperception. But while Packards are the largest single group of cars in the organization, numerous fine European cars are eligible for the Full Classic designation. "Rolls-Royce and Bentley are pretty well represented," Walter told us. Though he joined the CCCA not long after acquiring the Classic Phantom III in the mid-Seventies, he wasn't very involved--and the CCCA Museum itself was still about a decade away.
The CCCA Museum resulted from a collaboration between two CCCA members: Dick Gold, who provided the impetus for the project; and Norm Knight, who had an in with the Gilmore Car Museum--he was the curator. Starting in 1983 or so, Dick had been encouraging club members to come up with a location, and Norm thought the campus of the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, would be an ideal spot. Dick's vision was to have a place to showcase and preserve CCCA Full Classic cars and the Classic Era for future generations, while the Gilmore Museum's mission is "Dedicated to the discovery, procurement and preservation of automobilia, notable automobiles, artifacts and documents from the Classic Era." It was a match made in automotive heaven.
Norm got the CCCA folks together with the Gilmore Museum people, and things took off. From the beginning, the response from club members willing to donate Classic cars was astonishing. The new CCCA Museum acquired a nearby 1890s barn, moved it to a corner of the Gilmore grounds and reconstructed it. Named for Tom Barrett (of Barrett-Jackson fame), who helped fund the project, the museum moved into its permanent location in 1987 and Classic marques including Duesenberg, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac, Lincoln, Packard and Wills Sainte Claire were soon motoring into the Thomas W. Barrett Barn.
That, and other developments with the CCCA, got Walter more involved as time went on. "They have a continuous stream of activities, and you're hard-pressed to participate in even a significant fraction," he said. "It's easy to get involved: All you have to do is find the time for it." He particularly enjoys the club's driving tours, he told us.
"I had not had any real contact with the museum for most of that time," he said, until he eventually ended up at an event there. "It's an absolutely spectacular place to have a get-together," he said. "Acres and acres of grass.
"There were any number of fascinating automotive exhibits," like their Thirties Shell gasoline station and operating diner. Walter had done development work with other boards, and it seemed to him that the museum was an area where the CCCA could do more. He was nominated as a trustee in the early Oughts and, as he said, "If you don't run fast enough, you'll get pushed into another job," in this case, becoming president of the museum two years ago.
If the museum has one pressing issue today, it's space. "We are running out of space," he said. "We just acquired Beverly Rae Kimes's library; she willed it to the museum... it's a substantial, noteworthy collection." The current library is itself in an addition on the original barn that nearly doubled the museum's floor space. It includes an archive of original drawings and other materials from important coachbuilders and stylists, including Buehrig, Judkins and Dietrich; and Marvin Tamroff's donated collection of almost 700 automotive mascots.
Walter has fully embraced his role, both as caretaker of what has been done, and as steward of the future. "I'd like to be able to say that during the time I held the job, I was able to build on what we had, and pass it along. We need to be forward-looking. It's really not enough to say, 'Here's what we've got and if you come back next year it will be exactly the same...' We've had a bit of that going on over the years."
He acknowledges that if the CCCA Museum were in, say, Chicago, he'd have little trouble filling it with people. But at the same time, the sprawling campus in rural Michigan would not have been possible in a metropolitan setting.
Walter thinks the museum's showpiece annual "Experience" weekend is worthy of being on everyone's list of premier annual events, but they've failed to promote it sufficiently. "We need to get a broader base," he said. "We have cars people will want to see, and maybe should see as part of their background." Held the first weekend in June, Pebble Beach-quality cars are the rule, not the exception--but in a low-key, relaxed atmosphere, very different from the pressured and busy scene at some major concours.
"We think it's a wonderful place, one that not enough people who are interested in old cars have seen. We want to make it easier and more attractive for people to get here as casual visitors." With the Gilmore as an adjunct, the nine buildings spread over the 90-acre grounds hold 240 cars. Increasingly, the Gilmore is becoming a major focal point for Full Classics beyond the CCCA, with the Pierce-Arrow Foundation Museum, Tucker Historical Collection and Library, the brand-new Franklin Automobile Collection and, in 2011, the exciting new Lincoln Motor Car Museum joining the campus's offerings. "People can have an extraordinarily wide-ranging experience of automotive art," said Walter.
And make no mistake: Walter firmly believes in the car, especially the Full Classic, as a work of art. "It isn't a painting in oil, it isn't actors on a stage. It isn't a sculpture in metal, not really...but it's appreciated all over the world." He points out the reactions he's received when driving a collector car through low-income city neighborhoods. "I've been fascinated to see how people who don't have them nevertheless have a vivid appreciation for them. It is a form of art that has a well-nigh universal appeal."
The CCCA Museum is unique in its focus on Full Classics, and is a perfect complement to the CCCA's mission of promulgating and preserving Classic Era automobiles. Unlike many other collections, it's both open to the public (from May through October), and member supported. All Walter wants is for more people to see it, and when he's done as president, to leave a lasting legacy of both expansion and fiscal responsibility. "It's a place with great potential and a great deal to offer."
Ultimately, it's not the buildings or the organization that's important, of course. The irreplaceable materials inside are what make the CCCA Museum special: the archives, the memorabilia and, of course, the cars. "With mass production, we tend to think they're just utilitarian," said Walter. "But so many of them were not. I insist this is an art form."

This article originally appeared in the June, 2010 issue of Hemmings Classic Car.